White House press secretary Jay Carney hedged Monday on
whether ObamaCare’s individual mandate could be delayed because of
problems with the healthcare law’s enrollment web site.
Carney did not directly say the individual mandate could be delayed,
but he did say that if people could not get access to ObamaCare, they
would not be penalized.
Under the healthcare law, uninsured Americans are required to sign up
for health insurance. If they don’t, they could be hit with a fine.
Carney was asked Monday if people would have to pay a fine if they
couldn’t enroll in ObamaCare because of a glitchy website that the
administration has struggled to fix.
Carney said that those “without access to affordable care due to a
state not expanding Medicaid or other factors” would not be penalized. A
number of states have decided against accepting federal money to expand
Medicaid under ObamaCare.
Carney then dodged a question about whether the website could be one of those factors.